Monday, September 30, 2013

Saturday's rain set records across Western Washington, from Olympia to Bellingham. And the National Weather Service says the rain isn't over yet. Record rainfall of 1.71 inches fell was recorded at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday. The weather service says that is more than double the old record of 0.83 of an inch set in 1948. A record rainfall of 2.93 inches was set in Olympia, breaking the old record of 0.82 set in 1971. Rain sets records across Western WashingtonAnd: West Coast storm knocks out power on B.C. South Coast

Skagit County and several towns and cities within the county are in the process of updating their Shoreline Master Plans, the first complete update since the Shoreline Management Act was established in 1972. The act protects Washington shorelines with rules for development to help minimize environmental damage while maintaining public land and water rights. State shoreline includes land within 200 feet of the high-water mark of Puget Sound, rivers, streams, lakes of more than 20 acres and associated floodplains, wetlands and river deltas. Kimberly Cauvel reports. Shoreline plans get first updates in 40 years

After more than three years of public process, the city of Olympia is poised to finish its work on the Shoreline Master Program. The Olympia City Council will consider Tuesday whether to approve its proposal for the state-mandated plan and transmit it to the state Department of Ecology for final approval, which could take months. Matt Batcheldor reports. Olympia nearing end of work on Shoreline Master Program

Friday, September 27, 2013

A healing pole created by Lummi carver Jewell James and the House of Tears carvers will be welcomed to Northwest Indian College Friday, Sept. 27, near the end of a 16-day journey from Wyoming coal fields to British Columbia. Events begin at noon with drumming and other ceremonial observances. Lummi fishermen as well as non-Indian supporters of the tribal position on the Gateway Pacific Terminal coal export facility are scheduled to speak. John Stark reports. Lummi healing pole rallies coal opponents

Metro Vancouver's planned new Lions Gate sewage treatment plant won't include many bells and whistles like a once-mooted wedding chapel. And the plant replacement project will stop at secondary treatment – not the more advanced tertiary treatment demanded by environmental groups – in the name of saving money... And all of the region is expected to share to some degree in the $560-million estimated cost, which is up from an initial $400 million but not as costly as planners had feared. It's the first of two big sewage plants Metro must upgrade from primary treatment – basic screening and skimming – to reduce ocean pollution and meet new federal standards. Jeff Nagel reports. Metro Vancouver's new Lions Gate sewage plant pegged at $560m

Boaters on Puget Sound would be prohibited from releasing any sewage - treated or untreated - if the Washington Ecology Department persuades the federal Environmental Protection Agency to declare the sound a "no discharge zone." Under current rules, boaters are allowed to release treated sewage, but they should be using pump-out locations, said Amy Jankowiak, the department's leader on the effort. Puget Sound may become no-sewage discharge zone

A judge is requiring federal regulators to reassess permits that allow the Navy's expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the West Coast. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas wrote in a ruling Wednesday that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to consider the best available scientific data for the 2012 authorization. The parties are now discussing the timing and scope of how the permitting reassessment. The permits had authorized a five-year Navy plan for operations in the Northwest Training Range Complex. That area stretches from the waters off Mendocino County in California to the Canadian border. Mike Baker reports. Judge wants feds to reassess Navy sonar permits

A whopping $1.5 million in fines are in the mail to some local recycling businesses. Snohomish County made good this week on a promise to enforce its laws against hauling waste to other counties, where disposal fees are cheaper. County solid waste officials said in April they would be moving against two local recycling companies. Noah Haglund reports. Local firms fined $1.5M for waste disposal violations

Fishermen around the Northwest are enjoying some exceptional salmon runs this autumn. Puget Sound is teeming with pink salmon and there's a record-breaking fall Chinook run in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. But as fish move upstream to spawn, danger lurks for dogs. Dr. Scott Capsey had his first encounter with "salmon poisoning" years before he became a vet. His family's normally exuberant golden retriever mysteriously turned lethargic, had diarrhea and lots of vomiting. After much investigation, it turned out the dog had eaten a fisherman's discards, which brought on a bacterial infection spread by a fish parasite. The potentially fatal infection is treatable with antibiotics, antidiarrheals, fluid therapy, and an anti-parasitic drug. Tom Banse reports. Bumper Salmon Runs Pose Danger for Dogs

The Coast Guard is investigating why a tugboat went off course and ran aground on Cape George Beach early Thursday morning. The tugboat Shannon, which ran aground at about 12:30 a.m., was refloated at about 7 a.m., the state Department of Ecology said. It was moored behind the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill. Charlie Bermant reports. Why did tug run aground? Coast Guard wants to know

Take a deep breath in Seattle’s Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods and you’ll take in the worst air the city has to offer. The University of Washington and Puget Sound Sage group released results of an air monitoring study that compares diesel contamination in those neighborhoods to the Beacon Hill and Queen Anne areas. Georgetown/South Park got the worst of it. Gary Chittim reports. Diesel dust contamination the worst in Georgetown, South Park

Michele Fire-River Heart worked quickly in the chilly morning air, peeling strips of spore-filled kelp off paper backing and punching them into plastic carboys. The ocean at her back was smooth. Too smooth. There was a time, decades ago, when the bay would have been dense with the bobbing heads of bull kelp. Today, only a few lone stems weave up from the rocky ocean bottom. “Kelp is the forest of the ocean….and it’s disappearing,” said Heart, from Clark Bay on Gabriola Island. “People that have lived here for 20 years said [kelp] was so thick you couldn’t row a boat through it and now the densest areas [are] small patches. I want to help change that.” Heart is part of a team of ‘Help the Kelp’ citizen scientists staging a coastal intervention to fight the disappearance of underwater forests. Tamara Cunningham reports. Citizen scientists help reforest kelp on ocean floor

If you like to watch: B.C. wild salmon are ready for their close-up in Twyla Roscovich’s lively documentary Salmon Confidential, which is being screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It’s a VIFF first for Ms. Roscovich, who has worked as a director and cinematographer for the BBC Natural History and Discovery Channel. In Confidential, she turns her camera on activist biologist Alexandra Morton as she tracks European salmon viruses that have turned up in B.C. wild salmon. The film raises questions about the salmon-farming industry’s role in the situation. Ms. Morton’s Pacific Wild Salmon Society financed the project. Ian Bailey reports. Documentary filmmaker captures the wild life of salmon

Meanwhile: An online video campaign designed to build consumer confidence in sustainable seafood has sparked outrage in the B.C. and Alaska fishing industry. While a song titled Happy Go Lucky Me plays, the animated video features a tractor pulling an enormous net that captures farm animals, uproots trees and causes widespread destruction on the property. The marketing spot carries the tag line: “We don’t farm like this. Why do we fish like this?” Brent Jang reports. Fisheries outraged by WWF video touting sustainable seafood

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

This year, falling coal prices have raised questions about whether the controversial coal export terminals proposed in the Pacific Northwest would pencil out. Now, an analysis of one major coal company's finances shows it could be more profitable to bet against coal than to actually export it. Cloud Peak Energy is a major player in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, the source of the coal that could be exported from the terminals proposed near Bellingham and Longview, Washington and Boardman, Oregon. Clark Williams-Derry is with the Sightline Institute, a sustainability think tank in Seattle. His analysis of Cloud Peak's second quarter financial report shows that nearly all of the 2.8 million dollars its export unit earned that quarter came from its hedging program. Liam Moriarty reports. Coal Giant's Financials Reveal Export WeaknessEnvironmental regulators from the Northwest deliberated Wednesday about the dramatic changes in the way oil and other energy products are carried through the region. At a task force meeting of West Coast states, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis of the Washington Department of Ecology described the sudden increase in oil trains coming into the state and traveling along the Columbia River. She said oil-spill response resources have typically focused on tanker traffic off the coast or pipeline routes, so the new transport strategies will require new tactics, new technologies and new personnel around inland water resources. Mike Baker reports. West Coast officials discuss oil transportation See also: BNSF Defends Safety Of Oil Trains To West Coast Regulators

A recently-formed environmental watchdog group is appealing nearly a dozen permits issued for development along the Puget Sound shoreline. Sound Action says too many permits are being issued without the restrictions the law requires to protect important fish species. The permits, issued by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, range from a boat ramp in Tacoma to a breakwater in Anacortes. According to Sound Action Executive Director Amy Carey, what they have in common is they fail to require the developer to take actions that would limit the project's impact on the environment. Carey says the state has fairly strong laws to protect marine habitat, but too often they're not consistently enforced. Liam Moriarty reports. Watchdog Group Appeals Shoreline Permits, Urges Better Marine Habitat Protection

A healing process is underway where Mission Creek flows into Budd Inlet at the southern-most end of the city of Olympia’s 314-acre Priest Point Park. An old city right-of-way road, earthen berm and concrete culvert that kept the tide and stream from interacting naturally for as many as 100 years will soon be gone. In its place will be a new stream channel that will allow salmon and cutthroat trout to more easily traverse the 1.5-mile-long stream that flows from northeast Olympia into South Sound. John Dodge reports.Salmon will again enter Mission Creek from bay

The vast 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill damaged the tiny animals that live on the sea floor for about 57 square miles around the blown-out BP oil well, with severe damage in about nine square miles of that area, says a researcher from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Pollution and damage to animal life was severe nearly two miles from the wellhead and identifiable more than 10 miles away, Paul Montagna wrote in a report published Tuesday in the online journal PLOS One. Montagna, a professor of ecosystems and modeling, said the refrigerator-cold water a mile beneath the surface means oil takes longer to decay than in shallower waters, where spill recovery has taken years to decades. That means full recovery could take a generation or more, he said in an interview Tuesday. Janet McConnaughey reports. Study: BP spill damaged sea-floor life for miles

Sometime between Sunday and Monday evenings, Greenwich Mean Time, the bulk carrier Nordic Orion passed through the Northwest Passage and into Baffin Bay, sailing into history as it went. The ship – a 225-metre, ice-strengthened carrier loaded with B.C. coal bound for Finland – became the first bulk carrier to make the voyage, which has lured explorers for more than a century and has long been eyed as a commercial route. Wendy Stueck reports.Ship crosses Northwest Passage, sails into history

A report presented to the United Nations indicates British Columbia is meeting its legislated targets to cut greenhouse gas pollution, but environmental leaders say that won’t last much longer even if the province sets up a smokescreen to hide the air pollution created by proposed liquefied natural gas operations. Environment Canada’s national inventory submission in April to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change shows B.C.’s greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions have declined almost six per cent since 2007 when the province passed its law to cut the emissions by 33 per cent by 2020... But B.C. climate scientist Mark Jaccard, who helped the Liberal government develop its climate targets law and implement the carbon tax, said he’s given up on Canada’s GHG reduction plans and is now working with the California Energy Commission which is advising U.S. President Barack Obama on cutting emissions. B.C. meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets, but setting up smokescreen for LNG: experts

An independent scientific review panel has concluded that the mass stranding of approximately 100 melon-headed whales in the Loza Lagoon system in northwest Madagascar in 2008 was primarily triggered by acoustic stimuli, more specifically, a multi-beam echosounder system operated by a survey vessel contracted by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production (Northern Madagascar) Limited. Whale Mass Stranding Attributed to Sonar Mapping for First Time

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Master carver Jewell James of the Lummi Nation brought a colorful 22-foot healing totem pole to Olympia on Tuesday as part of a 1,700-mile journey over 16 days that he and other carvers are making from Wyoming to British Columbia. The trip is a rolling protest against the potential export of Wyoming coal to China via Northwest ports. The pole — mounted on a flatbed truck — has been hauled along the path that coal trains would follow to the proposed shipping docks at Longview and Cherry Point in Western Washington as well as other fuel export sites in British Columbia. Brad Shannon reports. Tribes travel to protect sacred land

If you like to watch: A rare sighting of a what onlookers mistook for a red-headed woodpecker caused a bit of a stir in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday. The wild bird, with a black and white back and red head, was seen repeatedly pecking a tree at the corner of Helmcken Avenue and Seymour Street at eye level, showing no fear of the gathering crowds stopping to photograph and videotape it. It turns out it was a red-breasted sapsucker, common in the coniferous forests of the northern Pacific Coast, and usually found at middle or lower elevations, according to a birding website. Susan Lazaruk reports. Video: Rare red-breasted sapsucker draws birders to downtown Vancouver

Blue herons on Whidbey Island, elk herds in Kittitas County and inner-city school kids in Tacoma couldn’t get away for breakfast in Seattle, but 650 of their benefactors did show up. The Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition is one of the nation’s all-too-few ongoing examples of bipartisan, across-the-battle-lines cooperation. The WWRC was founded by ex-Govs. Dan Evans and Mike Lowry, who on Tuesday were marking the 30th anniversary of facing off against each other in an intense 1983 U.S. Senate special election campaign. Joel Connelly reports. State Wildlife and Recreation Coalition: A bipartisan success story

Sound Action, a new environmental group, has filed informal appeals for 11 construction permits issued by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. When the group announced its formation in April, it expressed its intent to be a watchdog and make sure shoreline habitats are protected through the state’s “hydraulic project approval” (HPA) process. Executive Director Amy Carey says her group has begun scrutinizing every permit issued for saltwater shorelines. Recent projects include docks, bulkheads, a boat launch and a bridge in six Puget Sound counties. Of the 11 construction projects appealed, Sound Action found that 10 of the approvals failed to include adequate protections for juvenile salmon or forage fish, such as herring, surf smelt and sandlance. Christopher Dunagan reports. Environmental group appeals 11 shoreline projects (paywall, alas)

A dilapidated ferry dock on the north side of Fox Island dating back to Puget Sound’s historic Mosquito Fleet is being removed as part of a state cleanup. Workers are taking out the dock and 182 creosote-treated pilings spread across five sites on the shoreline facing Hale Passage. The project’s purpose is to remove toxic materials and produce a healthier and cleaner Puget Sound, said Jordanna Black of the Department of Natural Resources. Steve Maynard reports. Workers begin removing derelict dock on Fox Island

The Thurston County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to ban thin, grocery-style plastic bags in unincorporated areas of the county starting July 1. Commissioners adopted the same ban that the Tumwater City Council did last week, and that Olympia is expected to consider next month. Matt Batcheldor reports. Thurston County bans plastic bags in unincorporated areas

Washington state's ocean beaches are a bit cleaner now after 115 volunteers plucked trash from the Olympic coast during the International Coastal Cleanup. The volunteers collected about 2,500 pounds of beach debris in just a few hours Saturday, said Jon Schmidt, Washington CoastSavers coordinator. Arwyn Rice reports. Volunteers clean some 2,500 pounds of debris from beaches

Shipping oil by rail from Alberta to the B.C. coast is still very much on the table despite the recent rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, says Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver.... Mr. Oliver spoke days before an annual meeting between provincial transportation ministers and their federal counterpart at which rail safety is expected to dominate the agenda. Provincial and municipal officials are calling for more information about the kinds of cargo moved by rail – information currently under federal control – as well as increased safety measures aimed at preventing the kind of tragedy that devastated the Quebec town. Wendy Stueck and Mark Hume report. Oliver pushes for oil to be shipped by train on west coast, Lac-Megantic notwithstanding

Oil giant BP has asked a US court to halt payments from its settlement deal over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill amid concerns about fraud control. The blast killed 11 workers and released an estimated four million barrels of oil into the gulf. It is the firm's latest move to stop or delay payments under a financial settlement programme. It had expected payouts to total $7.8bn (£4.9bn), but says this has been driven up by excessive fees and bogus claims. BP has faced about $42.4bn in charges since the disaster aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which triggered the worst offshore oil spill in US history. It has made two previous, unsuccessful attempts, to halt compensation payments. It now says all payments should be halted until the court-appointed claims administrator puts efficiency and accounting controls into place. BP court move to halt Gulf payouts

A mammoth undersea US project will soon start streaming data to researchers. But some wonder whether the system is worth its high price. (UW oceanographer John) Delaney is the architect behind a 925-kilometre network of fibre-optic cable and instruments being installed on the seabed off the coast of Washington and Oregon. If all goes according to plan, these will stream real-time data back to shore by 2015, delivering some of the first live video footage of an underwater volcano erupting, hydrothermal vents growing and clouds of microbes billowing from the sea floor. The cabled network is a key part of the massive US Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), which aims to create a flood of continuous information from select sites. Alexandra Witze reports. Marine science: Oceanography's billion-dollar baby

Coastal First Nations in British Columbia have aimed an anti-oil tanker campaign directly at Prime Minister Stephen Harper in an apparent attempt to counter a federal push to get aboriginal leaders onside with resource development in the West. A video featuring a Simon & Garfunkel song, The Sound of Silence, and dramatic images of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989, all builds to the message: “British Columbians have spoken. Will Stephen Harper listen?” Mark Hume reports. Kill Northern Gateway now, First Nations leaders say amid ad campaign

Port Metro Vancouver has had ongoing co-operative communication with a coal lobby group, including a “heads up” to the Coal Alliance about a protest, according to documents obtained by a group protesting coal export increases. Voters Taking Action for Climate Change (VTACC) say emails obtained through a freedom of information request show the port and coal industry lobbyists have communicated as if they were allies, rather than as a public regulator and private proponent. Gordon Hoekstra reports. Port Metro Vancouver’s ‘cosy’ emails with coal industry a problem, critics charge

Two separate Environmental Impact Statements will be conducted for the proposed bulk commodities terminal near Bellingham, the state Department of Ecology announced Monday. Ecology, Whatcom County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had previously agreed to produce one EIS studying a wide variety of impacts the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal could have, including rail traffic, human health impacts and gas emissions. The agencies now say two studies will be conducted; Whatcom County and Ecology will issue a report following the State Environmental Policy Act, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will follow the National Environmental Policy Act. Rachel Lerman reports. Proposed coal train terminal to have 2 EIS studies

Three months after a dispute over how much fish Washington state residents eat nearly derailed the state budget, a panel of lawmakers revisited the controversial subject Monday in a more peaceful fashion. But that doesn't mean the fighting is over. Members of the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee got a progress report on revising the state's water quality standards, a process that ties the amount of fish each resident eats with the levels of contaminants allowed in water discharged from industrial facilities. Jerry Cornfield reports. Will fish you eat factor into Boeing’s 777X decision?

Health officials in Oregon and Washington said Monday that people should protect themselves against mercury and PCB contamination by limiting consumption of certain fish species from a 150-mile section of the Columbia River. The Oregon Health Authority and the Washington Department of Health said people should eat no more than one meal a week of resident fish — those that live year-round in the same place — between Bonneville and McNary dams. Resident species in the Columbia include bass, bluegill, yellow perch, crappie, walleye, carp, catfish, suckers and sturgeon. A meal is about the size and thickness of one’s hand. Jonathan Cooper reports. Ore., Wash., issue Columbia River fish warning

A mystery kelp found during a survey of Clallam County offshore sea life has been positively identified as a regionally native but rare growth known as Laminaria ephemera.... The kelp, collected by a team of scientists studying the ecology of the floor of the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the mouth of the now-free flowing Elwha River, was initially thought to be one of two species — L. ephemera or L. yezoensis — neither of which had been recorded at the site before. After examination under a microscope by Tom Mumford, a retired state Department of Natural Resources kelp specialist in Olympia, it was determined that the kelp was the ephemera variety. Arwyn Rice reports. Mystery solved: Kelp off Elwha River mouth a rare spring variety found in late summer

As debate broils in Congress to reduce food assistance programs, demand at food banks in communities all over the nation, is high. In Seattle some food banks receive organic produce from “giving gardens” or gardens dedicated to growing fruit and vegetables and donating it to those in need. At these food banks, organic produce is as popular as it anywhere. Martha Baskin has our story. Martha Baskin reports.This Plum’s For You! Giving Gardens Make a Dent in Hunger While Congress Fiddles With Food Stamps

According to researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Miami, some of the largest ocean eddies on Earth are mathematically equivalent to the mysterious black holes of space. These eddies are so tightly shielded by circular water paths that nothing caught up in them escapes. The mild winters experienced in Northern Europe are thanks to the Gulf Stream, which makes up part of those ocean currents spanning the globe that impact on the climate. However, our climate is also influenced by huge eddies of over 150 kilometres in diameter that rotate and drift across the ocean. Their number is reportedly on the rise in the Southern Ocean, increasing the northward transport of warm and salty water. Intriguingly, this could moderate the negative impact of melting sea ice in a warming climate. Chasing the 'Black Holes' of the Ocean

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Monday, September 23, 2013

On this first fall workday, take a look at Eric Vance's report in The Last Word On Nothing about the backstory on art and marine resource protection in Cancun's underwater museum, Museo Subacuatico de Arte. Birth Of The World’s First Underwater Museum

Climate activists gathered on the Seattle waterfront Saturday and vowed to fight any increase in coal and oil exports through ports in Washington and other states. In one of more than 200 such demonstrations across the nation, about 600 people lined the edge of Elliott Bay in Myrtle Edwards Park to form a symbolic barrier to coal shipments. Although the nationwide “Draw the Line” demonstrations were aimed primarily at persuading President Obama not to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, the Seattle crowd also protested proposed new West Coast coal ports they said would accelerate global warming. Keith Ervin reports. Hundreds gather in Seattle in opposition to coal, oil exports

CN Rail, at the urging of Chinese-owned Nexen Inc., is considering shipping Alberta bitumen to Prince Rupert, B.C., by rail in quantities matching the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, documents shared with The Canadian Press show. Internal memos obtained by Greenpeace under the Access to Information Act show the rail carrier raised the proposal last March with Natural Resources Canada. CN, feds eyeing oil by rail to Prince Rupert, B.C. See also: Feds bring pipelines pitch to B.C. First Nations

The pledge has come from the highest levels of a province determined to see a giant new industry ship away natural gas and leave billions of new dollars in its wake. British Columbia, its Premier and her lieutenants have repeatedly said, will build the cleanest liquefied natural gas industry on the face of the earth. But if B.C. is to keep that pledge it will need to impose a series of strict, and likely costly, rules to reshape how powerful oil and gas companies proceed in the province. Without those measures, a sober new assessment warns, each tonne of LNG produced in Canada could produce up to a tonne of carbon dioxide, nearly triple the best projects in Norway and Australia. Nathan Vanderklippe reports. B.C.’s pledge to keep LNG sector clean faces steep hurdles, report warns

Chris Dunagan blogs: Are we about to see one of the infamous fish kills that we have observed in Southern Hood Canal in past years? I am unable to sound any alarms at this time, but if you live in the Hoodsport-Potlatch area or are scuba diving nearby, you might want to watch for dead fish on the surface, rockfish or shrimp swimming in shallow water, or wolf eels and octopuses acting strangely. Will Hood Canal experience a fish kill this year?

From Anacortes, Wash., you get the classic, gorgeous views of the San Juan Islands. But tourists mostly breeze by this city, thinking of it as just the gateway to greater places. Anacortes does have its own thing going, though. It’s an unusual mix of a real working city with super lovely landscape. Now, Anacortes has to figure out how to maintain that mix of beauty and industry. Sarah Lerner reports. Anacortes: One Town Debates Its Future

The makeover of Seattle's downtown waterfront is picking up steam as the seawall replacement, the viaduct removal, and other major projects gear up for action. Into this mix will come another ambitious renovation—a near-total rebuild of the Washington State Ferries' flagship terminal, the historic Colman Dock. Liam Moriarty reports. Rebuilding Plan for Seattle's Aging Colman Ferry Dock

The city of Bellingham is promising some rain gardens in the downtown area, and is looking for business people to keep an eye on them once they're planted. With help from a state grant, the city plans to install 36 curbside rain gardens in the eastern part of downtown to cleanse runoff from 90 urban acres that drain into Whatcom Creek... A $600,000 grant from the Washington Department of Ecology is paying for the stormwater portion of the project. In recent years, the agency has shifted its focus for dealing with runoff from expensive treatment facilities to so-called "low-impact development" methods, including rain gardens, green roofs, swales and pervious paving. Dean Kahn reports. Downtown Bellingham to sprout rain gardens

Friday, September 20, 2013

Ocean health is at stake as Congress decides whether to confirm the next head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The nominee faced tough questions from Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, about funding for research of and adaptation to ocean acidification.... In the confirmation hearing, Senator Cantwell grilled the nominee, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, about proposed cuts to a monitoring program. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Cantwell Grills NOAA Nominee on Ocean Acidification Funding

Victoria’s Bob Peart is the new executive director of Sierra Club B.C., replacing George Heyman who was elected a member of the legislature. Peart is well known for his role in the establishment and management of B.C.’s park system and the designation of land-use plans throughout the province. He has been the Canadian leader in a movement to get children and families outdoors, into nature. Victoria’s Bob Peart new executive director of Sierra Club B.C.

Linking global warming to public health, disease and extreme weather, the Obama administration pressed ahead Friday with tough requirements to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, despite protests from industry and from Republicans that it would mean a dim future for coal. The proposal, which sets the first national limits on heat-trapping pollution from future power plants, would help reshape where Americans get electricity, moving from a coal-dependent past into a future fired by cleaner sources of energy. It's also a key step in President Barack Obama's global warming plans, because it would help end what he called "the limitless dumping of carbon pollution" from power plants. Gina Cappiello reports. Obama takes on coal with first-ever carbon limits

This Saturday, environmental activist and author Bill McKibben will lead a rally against fossil fuel exports and the Keystone XL pipeline in Seattle. Known as one of the first voices to warn of the dangers of global warming, McKibben is on tour with his new book, Oil and Honey. He is also the founder of an international organization called 350.org, which he created to fight climate change. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Bill McKibben of 350.org to Lead Climate Change Rally in Seattle

In July, the Port of Tacoma’s Washington United Terminal was host to the largest ship ever to call in Tacoma, the Zim Djibouti, a 1,145-foot vessel carrying more than 10,000 container units. But the port could be seeing even larger vessels calling at its Blair Waterway terminals now that a new study has shown the waterway can safely handle them. That $40,000 study, paid for by the port and the Puget Sound Pilots organization, set firm conditions for allowing the so-called Ultra Large Container Ships to transit the Blair. John Gille reports. Port of Tacoma ready for ultra large ships, study says

An uncommon species of kelp was found last week off the Elwha River mouth — possibly a species that has not been seen there before. A team of scientists found the kelp, thought to be Laminaria ephemera or Laminaria yezoensis, during a survey of the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the Elwha River mouth and brought it to the Feiro Marine Life Center on City Pier for temporary safekeeping. “There is something strange going here, something different,” said Steve Rubin, a fishery biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Arwyn Rice reports. Mystery kelp found in Strait at Elwha River mouth

Millions of cigarette butts, bottles and bags, hundreds of thousands of cans, caps and straws - this is not a count of items found in the landfill - these are the things showing up in the ocean, the Puget Sound and along Washington shorelines. "It's a pretty shocking statistic," says Kathryn Davis, stewardship coordinator with the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. "It really lets people know marine debris is a problem and continues to be a problem." For more than 10 years the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance has participated in a global volunteer effort to help collect and record the trash found in local waterways, including the Sound. Kiersten Throndsen reports. No 'butts' about it, cigarettes are No. 1 item along local shorelines

Forty-three years ago, Lolita the orca and more than 40 other killer whales were herded into Penn Cove off Whidbey Island, captured and taken to marine theme parks. Lolita, performing in a tank at the Miami Seaquarium since her capture, has been the lone survivor of that group since 1988. In the mid-1990s, local whale activists started a movement to return Lolita to the wild. Members of her immediate family still swim the waters of Western Washington, according to orca watchers. Now, two high school girls are renewing the campaign to have Lolita released. Bill Sheets reports. Killer whale captured off Whidbey Island lives at Florida theme park

Ocean beauty, beaches and boating? You won’t even miss them at Washington’s Moran State Park. The park is in the San Juan Islands, where saltwater recreation and views usually are the big visitor draws. Yet Moran, which covers a 5,252-acre, thickly forested swathe of Orcas Island, has no ocean access. Kristin Jackson reports. Moran State Park is an island treasure

The Tumwater City Council voted Tuesday to ban plastic grocery-style bags, becoming the first government in Thurston County to approve a ban that is under consideration countywide. Starting July 1, the thin film-style plastic bags will be off-limits. Shoppers will either have to bring their own reusable bags to stores or pay 5 cents per paper bag — money that goes directly to stores to offset their cost. Matt Batcheldor reports. Tumwater bans plastic grocery-style bags

Pink salmon, Puget Sound’s smallest, most short-lived and most abundant of five native salmon species, are returning in record numbers to the Nisqually River. There are so many of these 3- to 7-pound fish stacking up in the river, it conjures up the old saying: “They’re so thick, you could walk across the river on their backs.” They aren’t quite that thick, but they are pulsing upstream to spawn in numbers that boggle the mind. More than 700,000 pinks are expected to enter the river this year out of an estimated Puget Sound run size of 6.2 million fish. John Dodge reports. Pink salmon return to Nisqually River in record numbers

Sheila Stenzel and Jane Wynne were on a mission Wednesday at Island View Beach, hiking the waterfront to chart out activities for teachers. The pair were particularly interested in the park’s geological features — including its cliffs and a “drowned forest” beneath the sand and mud, said Wynne, a geologist. But those are just a few of the many special aspects of 52-hectare Island View Beach Regional Park, which is under close observation as a new management plan is prepared. Everything from dogs to dunes will be up for discussion as the future of Island View is charted in the coming months. Jeff Bell reports. Future of Island View Beach explored as CRD considers management plan

After an examination of eight dead juvenile crows, a provincial wildlife veterinarian is baffled about what paralyzed and eventually killed dozens of crows. In July, Helen Schwantje received reports of paralyzed crows in B.C’s Peace Region...Schwantje says none of the young birds had an infectious virus, such as West Nile, and she says there is no evidence industry played a role. Dead crows mystery unsolved

The state Department of Health has closed beaches in southern Whatcom County to recreational shellfish harvesting because of unsafe levels of the biotoxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. The ban affects beaches from Sandy Point south to the Whatcom-Skagit county border, including Lummi Island and Larrabee State Park. Kie Relyea reports. Southern Whatcom County beaches closed to recreational shellfish harvesting

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 304 AM PDT THU SEP 19 2013 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON TODAY E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS. TONIGHT E WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "For several weeks I’ve found it impossible to get a post written, and difficult to even to download my camera. The reason? I’ve been enslaved by TOTH. Perhaps you’re familiar with this mighty force, which strikes in late summer and fall. It’s full name is “Tyranny of The Harvest”, and when it takes hold, It keeps me trapped in the kitchen for long hours and days at a stretch. By late afternoon, I have barely enough energy to cook a simple (and I do mean simple!) dinner, let alone get creative on the computer. I know what you’ll likely say: it’s a good problem to have. I agree. So I’m not exactly complaining…just explaining..." When Tyranny Reigns

About 2,000 people jammed into the Cowlitz Expo Center on Tuesday evening, capping six hours of hearings on a proposed Longview coal terminal in which both sides rallied vigorously but without the incivility law enforcement officials had feared. With opponents dressed in red and supporters donning blue, the Expo Center resembled a mixed-party political convention, with the reds, many bused in from outside the area, having a decided majority. Outside, a sign on a 12-foot-tall inflatable globe declared “Coal is poison,” and a majority of people shared those sentiments when they urged state, federal and Cowlitz County regulators to conduct a broad environmental review of a $643 million Millennium Bulk Terminals proposal to export 44 million tons of coal annually at the old Reynolds Metals site. Erik Olson and Barbara LaBoe report. Longview coal hearing draws foes, backers

Parks Canada staff are waging war against an army of rats on two remote northern islands in Gwaii Haanas national park, in the Haida Gwaii archipelago, with an aerial drop of poison pellets they hope will eradicate the rodents and restore ecological balance. The aerial drop is the second phase of project Night Birds Returning, a five-year, $2.5-million plan that experts hope will eradicate the rats first introduced more than century ago by visiting ships and that now number possibly in the hundreds of thousands on Murchison and Faraday islands. Dene Moore reports. Parks Canada declares war on rats in Haida Gwaii

Rapidly thawing sea ice in the Arctic Circle has threatened polar wildlife and contributed to global changes in weather and climate. It has also opened the polar region for industrialization and resulted in new shipping lanes and a chance to drill for precious offshore oil reserves. As the NewsHour reports this week on climate change and its impact on the people and businesses along Alaska's Arctic border, we take a look at how operations in the Arctic by Royal Dutch Shell Oil, the first to drill for oil in the waters near Barrow, Alaska, have been fraught with accidents and controversy. Rebecca Jacobson reports. Controversy Over Shell's Oil Exploration in Arctic Continues

"We're doing a little myth-busting here," Port Environmental Director Mike Stoner told Port of Bellingham commissioners Tuesday, Sept. 17, as he delivered an update on the waterfront planning process. Stoner said he has heard what he believes are misconceptions about waterfront redevelopment plans that are now getting final review by both port commissioners and the Bellingham City Council... Stoner took pains to rebut two key criticisms of waterfront plans that have been heard in recent weeks: Not enough attention is being paid to habitat restoration for wildlife, and the port has never studied alternatives to plans for eventual installation of a marina inside the old G-P water treatment lagoon's massive trapezoidal breakwater. John Stark reports. Port of Bellingham's Stoner defends waterfront plans for wildlife, lagoon

The city (of Everett) is weathering a surge in new damage claims for recent storm-related sewer overflows, pushing the total to 73 as of Tuesday. That's about 30 more than last week. More claims are expected as a result of separate storms that flooded Everett homes and businesses in late August and early September. The city's latest claim tally, for example, doesn't include an estimated $700,000 in damage to the basements of two Snohomish County Public Utility District buildings. Noah Haglund reports. Everett sewage overflow damage claims keep pouring in

Reactions are mixed to the announcement last week that Tethys Enterprises backed out of its plans for a bottling facility on the island. Some residents were pleased the proposed 1-million-square-foot plant is off the table while others are lamenting the potential jobs lost. But all are looking to the future and how Anacortes could plan to best utilize the property — and how to attract a business that more people can get behind and support. Kimberly Jacobson reports. Tethys’ pullout draws mixed response

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Do you Facebook? Please check out and “like” Sound Action, a watchdog group using law and science to protect the Puget Sound nearshore. “Like” Sound Action and invite your friends to do so, too. Thanks!

Scoping hearings begin (today) on a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, near the Columbia River. It’s one of two Washington terminals that would ship coal from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming to Asia. Washington’s other proposed coal terminal is in Cherry Point, near Bellingham. Federal and local authorities wrapped up scoping hearings on that project earlier this year and are now working on environmental impact statements, based on more than 100,000 comments they received. For Longview, they’re just starting to gather comments. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Hearings Begin in Environmental Review of Longview Coal Terminal See also: Public’s Turn To Speak on Longview Coal Export Plan Comes Amid Market Doubts

The road map for balancing environmental needs with the need to generate power from the Northwest's hydroelectric dams is being revised. And the move has some people worried it could open the door to destructive dam projects on Washington rivers. Every five years, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council reviews its fish and wildlife plan. One of the current plan's programs puts part of certain rivers off-limits for hydropower development. Now, the Snohomish County Public Utility is asking for a provision to allow exemptions to that protected status. That, coupled with the PUD's pondering of a new hydro project on the currently protected Skykomish River near Sunset Falls, has some people worried about how that would impact salmon. Liam Moriarty reports. Dam Dispute Surfaces in Salmon Policy

City Council member Jack Weiss and Mayor Kelli Linville got into a stew over waterfront redevelopment plans at a Monday, Sept. 16, committee session. The plans are a regulatory framework for development of 237 mostly empty waterfront acres, much of which is owned by the Port of Bellingham. More than half of that acreage was the former site of a Georgia-Pacific Corp. pulp and paper mill. The company handed its real estate over to the port in 2005 as production was phased out. Johnn Stark reports. Waterfront plans on simmer at Bellingham council meeting

Work is to begin on the largest tidal turbine energy project in Europe after the Scottish government approved it. MeyGen is to install the tidal array in stages in the Pentland Firth, between Orkney and the Scottish mainland. It will begin with a 9MW demonstration project of up to six turbines, with construction expected to take place on a phased basis until 2020. When fully operational, the 86MW array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 42,000 homes. Pentland Firth tidal turbine project given consent

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Monday, September 16, 2013

If you like to listen: Once nesting season ends, swallows know it's time to party! Whether they nest as single pairs or in large colonies, both adults and juveniles now gather on electrical wires by the dozens, socializing before they migrate. Migrating by day - and foraging for insects as they go - swallows (including this Violet-green Swallow) head south to Mexico and Central and South America. Your local Audubon chapter can help you get a good look at swallows – and other birds, too! BirdNote:Swallows on Wires

The Lummi Nation's position on the Gateway Pacific coal terminal seemed crystal clear in a July 30, 2013, letter to Col. Bruce Estok, district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle. "The Lummi Nation has unconditional and unequivocal opposition to the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal," says the letter, signed by Lummi Indian Business Council Chairman Tim Ballew.... Despite the letter, Muffy Walker, Army Corps of Engineers regulatory branch chief in Seattle, said the Corps still doesn't see Lummi Nation's position against the project as firm enough to stop her agency's review process. She said tribal officials are still discussing the project with the Corps. "Lummi (Nation) has not stated that they have requested us to go to permit denial," Walker said. "They (Lummi Nation) are continuing to talk to us in a government-to-government consultation." John Stark reports. Feds still see wiggle room in Lummi Nation position on coal terminal

So far, wetlands have not been a central part of the public debate over coal exports. But concern over these ecologically sensitive areas are familiar to the federal regulators who will decide whether to permit coal export terminals. In fact, according to government documents obtained by EarthFix, the Army Corps of Engineers has already studied the issue. And in at least one instance, it’s reached a conclusion: Coal trains are bad for wetlands. In 2007, TransAlta Centralia Mining applied for a permit to expand rail capacity to deliver coal from the Powder River Basin straddling Montana and Wyoming to its plant in Centralia, Wash. The company proposed building two 8,500-foot by 40-foot railroad sidings where waiting coal trains could pull over to prevent blocking rail traffic. The corps acknowledged in permitting documents obtained by EarthFix under the Freedom of Information Act that the project would destroy nearly three acres of wetlands outright and potentially contaminate more wetlands with coal pollution along four miles of a rail line that services the plant. The project was designed with the expectation that coal traffic to the plant would more than double. Ashley Ahearn reports. Documents Reveal Army Corps’ Earlier Concerns About Coal Trains And Wetlands

In the global race to capture billions of dollars of investment to develop liquefied natural gas, British Columbia has started to tout its natural advantage: a northern climate. The B.C. government has been aggressively pursuing an LNG industry for two years, as part of the B.C. Liberal jobs plan. But it has only recently begun to talk up the economic benefits of producing LNG in a colder climate as an edge over some of the province’s prime competitors. Justine Hunter reports. B.C. touts cold climate in bid to land LNG investment See also: Clark hits the road to beat the LNG drum

Sea Change: Ocean acidification, the lesser-known twin of climate change, threatens to scramble marine life on a scale almost too big to fathom. Craig Welch reports. The Pacific's Perilous Turn

A fallow agricultural field at the mouth of the Samish River shifted to public ownership when the state Department of Fish and Wildlife purchased it in 2004. Now, the 100-acre plot known as the Welts property is enjoyed as a public access point for walking, bird-watching, fishing and hunting. Fish and Wildlife recently proposed a wetland restoration project to improve wildlife habitat at the popular site and install a parking lot to make it more accessible. Neighbors responded with a slew of concerns about public use of the area. Kimberly Cauvel reports. Battle brews over Samish wetlands

Less than four months after I-5 was severed when a bridge over the Skagit River collapsed, traffic is flowing over a permanent replacement for the failed span. The temporary bridge that was quickly put into place over the Skagit River near Burlington after the accident last May was closed at about 7 on Saturday night, and all vehicles on this major highway linking Seattle with Vancouver, B.C. were detoured onto local streets... A cheer went up as the first cars started crossing the new bridge at about 2 p.m. Sunday. Liam Moriarty reports. Less than Four Months after Collapse, Skagit Bridge Replaced

A group that says Canadian government scientists are being hampered from talking to the public about their taxpayer-funded research will be holding rallies across the country on Monday. The Evidence For Democracy is organizing events in 17 cities including Vancouver, trying to pressure Ottawa to be more forthcoming about communicating what government-funded scientific research is uncovering in fields such as public health, crime prevention, fisheries management and climate change. Scientists rally protesting alleged muzzling

The Olympia City Council will consider one aspect of its Shoreline Master Program on Tuesday that it was unable to on Aug. 27, when it deadlocked 3-3 because a council member was absent. The item left to consider is whether to allow “water-dependent” uses in the Marine Recreation shoreline designation or allow them conditionally, which requires extra processing. The “marine recreation” zone takes in the Port Peninsula side facing East Bay, including Swantown Marina. Water-dependent uses include marinas. The council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 601 Fourth Ave. E. Matt Batcheldor reports. Shoreline Master Program back on agenda in Olympia

A new provincial park on Quadra Island is one step closer to reality after an American forest company has tentatively agreed to sell a chunk of waterfront land to the B.C. government. Merrill & Ring, a forestry company based in Portland, Ore., said it has reviewed offers for 395 hectares of waterfront land it owns on Quadra Island and decided to enter into a sales agreement with the government. The deal would preserve the land as a provincial park, linking it with Octopus Islands and Small Inlet provincial parks to form one large protected area. Rob Shaw reports. Park deal a step closer for Quadra Island

The ballots are in. Votes have been counted, and the killer whale calf known in the scientific realm as L-119 has a new name. Oh, Joy. The competition was close. But with more than 2,500 votes were cast in The Friday Harbor Whale Museum's most recent naming contest, in which Joy edged out the pack by roughly 100 votes. A year old, a new name.... oh, Joy!

While walking near Dungeness Landing County Park, a retired Port Angeles police detective discovered a grisly scene Saturday — 18 Canada geese and 12 salmon, killed and left on the beach after being disemboweled. Ken Fox, who served with the Port Angeles Police Department for more than 20 years, 15 as a detective, was taking visitors to see the sights at about 4 p.m. Saturday when he found the dead animals on the beach north of Sequim at the end of Oyster House Road... “From my experience, it's one of these situations where someone is illegally harvesting,” he said. Arwyn Rice reports. Geese, fish found slaughtered on Dungeness beach

Can we even talk anymore? Maybe not, discovered Cliff Mass. Mass is an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Washington. He has been troubled for years by the way the subject of global warming can turn typically even-headed scientists into politicized, tribal warriors... It bugs Mass that a vital scientific and technical issue has morphed into such a political and social battle, with rigid, competing camps — even within science. So one day he thought: “Can’t we talk this out?” He proposed a seminar, in which scientists would discuss the science of global warming only with other scientists. It was going to be at the UW this fall. Danny Westneat reports. Uncivil scientists thwart Cliff Mass’ climate-change debate

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

About Me

Salish Sea Communications provides communications and public relations services that raise visibility and engage audiences. Drawing on over 30 years experience in private, public and not-for-profit work, Mike Sato brings to you his skills and insights in developing and carrying out your print, electronic and social media projects and products. "I've been in the communications business since 1977 starting with community weekly newspapers then working for Seattle City Light, the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Hawaiian Electric Company and, for 20 years, People For Puget Sound." Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told. WA State UBI #601395482